Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Learning from Failure

Alameda Bird of Paradise, 8.5" x 11" watercolor on Arches Cold Pressed w/c paper
 

Over the weekend I painted two paintings that were abysmal failures by anyone’s standard.

I do hate it when that happens, but I am learning that failures do sometimes contribute to better paintings down the line.

This one would certainly not win a contest with the California Watercolor Association. By their standards I made a lot of bad decisions here that add up to a fairly unremarkable painting.

Yet I also feel it shows some progress because of my weekend failures, which reminded me to wait sometimes for wet areas to dry to a sheen before introducing other colors.

Two steps forward and sometimes three back, but it’s all part of the LC (Learning Curve).

As a side note, my five-month-old grandson “helped” with this one. That is, he sat on my lap while I painted. Everything was out of his reach, but he didn’t object—just watched attentively. Thank you, little A.

 


No comments:

Post a Comment

More About the Sally Project

I met Sally forty years ago when I was twenty and she was the one in her sixties. I was a waitress at a Howard Johnson’s restaurant on...